The BBC has defended David Dimbleby's coverage of the Queen's jubilee despite admitting it had received hundreds of complaints.

The BBC took more than 3,000 jubilee-related calls from viewers, according to a spokeswoman.

However, among the 1,000 people that called to pass judgment on the coverage, only 300 congratulated the corporation.

BBC insiders said at least 400 viewers complained Dimbleby talked too much and many of his comments were disrespectful to the royal family. The total number of complaints is likely to be nearer 700.

Despite this, the BBC said the complaints should be seen in the context of the total number of calls it had received.

"Since David Dimbleby was the main BBC TV presenter over the four-day weekend, inevitably he attracted a lot of comments both good and critical - although the complaints were still in the minority," said the spokeswoman.

"We are very proud both of David's consummate skills and of the BBC's coverage as a whole," she added.

BBC1 screened more than 20 hours of live coverage over the four days.

The broacast included the Proms at the Palace and Party at the Palace concerts and nine hours of coverage of the procession on Tuesday, which even then ran over by half an hour.

"The BBC's role in helping the UK celebrate the jubilee prompted an extraordinarily high level of appreciative calls from viewers and listeners, about 15 times the normal level," said the spokeswoman.

"We received a total of over 3,000 calls covering everything from requests for tapes through to comments on the volume of the music."